BlackBerry maker RIM has been granted a patent for a keyboard designed to help smartphone users with chubby thumbs.

Anyone who’s ever hurriedly written “hgello” instead of “hello” or “fdear” instead of “dear,” don’t worry — help is on the way.

BlackBerry maker Research in Motion has been granted a patent for a keyboard designed to help smartphone users with chubby thumbs. The trapezoid-shaped keys on the keyboard make it less likely to hit the wrong letter number, according to the patent, granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

U.S. Patent No. 8,175,664 was granted to RIM this week for an “Angular keyboard for a handheld mobile communication device.”

As devices get lighter and smaller, it’s getting harder and harder to type on the keyboards, which people type on mainly with their thumbs, the patent says.

“Handheld mobile communication devices are today being designed with smaller widths which present a challenge in designing a keyboard that is both easy to use and has large enough keys for a user,” said the patent’s authors.

Not that all of RIM’s future smart phones will necessarily have a physical keyboard, mind you. Last week, the company gave developers an early version of a phone using its new BB10 operating system. Some long-time BlackBerry users despaired because it was a touch-screen only device. RIM CEO Thorsten Heins later confirmed, however, that some BB10 phones would have physical keyboards.

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